“So this is it, then?” Rarity asked when they approached the mountains. She was still very close to Sharpy, so he assumed the question was directed to him.

“Yes”, Sharpy said sadly. “Yes, this is it... Shadowcliff Mountains”. Coming back to his home should make him happy, but for some reason he wasn’t. It wouldn’t be the same returning here without seeing his old friends. Memories from the life he had before he became a pony returned to him. Perhaps that life wasn’t perfect and not at all as satisfying as the life the ponies lived. But it was his life. And in that life, his sister was still alive. He didn’t know what to expect when they were to face Huffy. But he couldn’t get the thought out of his head that he was leading his friends into their doom.

“Well...” Twilight broke the silence. She didn’t want to waste any time, now when they were so close to their goal. “Since only two of us can fly...” She said and pointed at Sharpy and Rainbow. “... I suggest we take a look at our surroundings”.

“How about from up there?” Applejack said and pointed towards a nearby mountain that seemed easy enough to climb. It was a good idea. From up there, they could see how the place looked like and then figure out where to go and how to find Huffy.

But first things first. They had to climb up to the top. And when you only have hooves, it’s proven to be quite difficult. But you should never give up without at least trying. Applejack was the first one approach the mountain. But even with her remarkable physique, she had a hard time making it anywhere. But she soon developed a technique. It was far from perfect, but it worked. Twilight carefully studied Applejack’s technique for a minute, or so, before she began to climb as well. She tried to imitate Applejack, but had also discovered a few flaws in her climbing which she politely corrected. Applejack just snorted and continued as before. But when she realized Twilight had almost caught up with her, she followed Twilight’s tips and so she started to make some distance between them.

Rarity didn’t follow the same route as Twilight and Applejack. Not immediately, at least. No she looked if there was a way to casually walk up the mountain. There wasn’t any. Rarity sighed in irritation, but began to slowly make her way up the mountain after Twilight.

Applejack and Twilight did well so far, but sometimes even they needed a bit of help from Sharpy and Rainbow Dash.

It went a bit slower for Rarity, but she was more than willing to get some assistance. Especially from Sharpy. Rarity called for help, even when she didn’t need any. But she only accepted it when Sharpy was the one who was there to help her. She mostly refused whenever Rainbow offered her a hoof.

But after a few minutes of climbing, they realized Pinkie Pie was still on the ground down below. She hadn’t even started climbing yet. Rainbow looked irritated at Pinkie who just stood there and looked at the mountain.

“What are you waiting for?” Rainbow yelled. “An invitation?” Pinkie just looked up at the shouting pegasus.

“I am actually calculating the fastest but safest way up the mountain, thank you very much”, Pinkie said in a sophisticated manner. Both Rainbow and Rarity stopped and looked surprised at Pinkie. They didn’t even know that she knew what those words meant. They guessed they were wrong. Rainbow just scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

“Soooo…” she said slowly. “Have you figured out how to… proceed?” Pinkie nodded quickly and smiled. Suddenly that childish look of her face was back.

“Of course I have, silly”, she giggled. “You just do like it like this” She placed her front hooves on the mountain and simply started trotting upwards. All traces of sophistication were gone as she ignored every single law of gravitation. Now Sharpy, Twilight and Applejack stopped and just stared at Pinkie as she was trotting upwards like she was walking on a flat surface. No one said anything, and Pinkie just kept on smiling. After a few seconds later, Twilight broke the silence.

“I’m not even going to try to understand how she did that”, she said and kept on climbing. She had learned a long time ago that there was no point in trying to understand that pink pony. Applejack and Rarity followed her.

The rest of the climb was a long and frustrating process of getting everypony up in one piece. Even Rainbow and Sharpy had a lot on their hooves. They had to make sure everything went smooth and that nopony were to fall down. Because a fall like that would be fatal for sure. Well it was a lot to do for everypony except Pinkie. She didn’t have any problems to get up the mountain for obvious but unexplainable reasons. But she helped the others as much as she could. After a while, everypony was starting to get really tired, but they didn’t give up. They were so close to the top now. Rainbow and Sharpy looked at each other and then back at the climbing ponies. As mentioned, they were getting close to the top, so Rainbow and Sharpy decided to fly them up. It would be a lot faster, and safer, than climbing the final part. Especially when the height caused the rock to be covered by a thin layer of ice, which would make it extremely dangerous to climb.

After just a few minutes, they were all at the top of the mountain. They had agreed to take a few minutes to rest and recover. They were all exhausted after the difficult and hard climb. As they were all finding themselves a comfortable position to lie down and rest at, they took a look over the landscape. It was simply beautiful and they were all stunned by the sight. As the sun was setting, it shone over the mountain chain and reflected its light in the snow. Everypony was lying down close to one other, recovering from the exhausting climb. Everypony except Sharpy. He was standing up at the edge, looking out over his former home. The cold wind blew threw his mane and tail, making him look very dramatic. But even though he was looking out over the beautiful landscape and his former, and perhaps future, home, there was no smile on his face. He just stood there with an emotionless expression. Sharpy didn’t really pay much attention to what the girls were talking about. He was too deep into his thoughts. But when he heard they mention his name, he couldn’t resist the urge to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“...Sharpy. But no smile”, was all he heard Pinkie say.

“Yeah, I don’t get it”, Twilight answered. “This is his home, isn’t it? Shouldn’t he be happy about returning?”

“‘Ah think ‘Ah understand”, Applejack said without removing the hat that currently covered her face. The others got silent and waited for Applejack to continue. “He’s here to kill a fellow dragon. Memories from his sister returns. And the feeling of not fitting in. It’s pretty obvious to me”. They all seemed to agree with her, but Rainbow spoke up and questioned her.

“What do you mean he doesn’t fit in? I don’t see anything wrong with him!”

“Would you fit in if you came marching into Ponyville in the body of a dragon?” Applejack asked Rainbow as she removed the hat from her face and looked at her.

“No?”

“Well there you go!” Applejack covered her face, yet again, with her hat and leaned backwards. They took a quick look at Sharpy.

“I can try to make him smile!” Pinkie said with a big smile. Rarity laughed awkwardly at Pinkie. Pinkie sure knew how to make somepony smile, but Rarity doubted that her methods would work this time.

“I’ll go talk to him, ok?”

Rarity got up on her hooves and walked over to Sharpy, who hadn’t moved a muscle since he walked up there. When Rarity came closer, he smiled at her. But as he turned her head back to the view, his facial expression returned to as it was just a few seconds before. Rarity walked up right next to him and tried to make eye contact with him. An attempt that failed. Rarity didn’t say much for a long time. She just looked at the view.

“What’s troubling you, darling?” she said. “It it Huffy? Your sister? Please tell me, so I can help you feel better”. Rarity looked worried at Sharpy, but he didn’t look back. At first his emotionless face remained as he looked out over the mountains. But then a few tears started running down from his chins. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. But he didn’t say anything. Not for a couple of minutes at least. He looked up and scanned the area one more time.

“There is no one here”, he said quickly. Rarity just looked confused at him. It was clear that he tried to avoid the subject by bringing up another. “That’s awfully strange. There should be a lot of dragons flying around. It’s usually crowded up here. But as you can see. Nothing…” Rarity looked worried at Sharpy and then back to the open landscape. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like this one bit. But she tried to look for an optimistic explanation rather than a pessimistic.

“What if every single dragon is sleeping?” she said as she turned to Sharpy. Sharpy just looked at her with a blank face.

“Well technically we shouldn’t see them if they were sleeping since we dragons usually sleep down in the valleys. But you don’t seriously think that…”

“No I don’t”, Rarity interrupted Sharpy. He was right. There is no way every single dragon was sleeping at the same time. Especially since it wasn’t even that late. She was sure something had happened. And her mind couldn’t let go of the thought that Huffy was behind this… and that wouldn’t be any good news for neither of them. If Huffy was up to something it can’t be good if you were to believe the image given by Sharpy. They both sighed. They just hoped they were not walking into a trap. If they were unlucky, Huffy already knew they were coming.

“Well…” Sharpy said and looked at Rarity. “It’s getting late and I rather not be up here when the darkness falls”. Rarity nodded and began to slowly walk back to the others and Sharpy limped after. Twilight was currently looking out over the area. She noticed Rarity and Sharpy coming closer so she turned her head to them. She realized what was going on, so she nodded without saying a single word. Just like Sharpy, she had probably thought about heading down before it got too dark to see anything.

They returned to the other three to tell them it was time to leave. But before they were able to say anything, a loud roar was heard. The roar was filled with so much hate and anger it chilled them to the bones, stunning them for a few seconds. Shortly after the roar, two terrified screams could be heard. They all looked towards where the sound came from. It appeared that something was going on in the valley down below. Twilight recognized one of the voices instantly as she began to make her way down the mountain shouting.

“Spike!” Twilight yelled and was using her magic to get down faster. Neither of them realized what was actually happening, but they assumed the worst. Sharpy wasn’t sure about Spike, but Twilight was probably right. He recognized the other voice, however. It was Fluttershy. That he was sure of. He flew up and looked for Rainbow Dash. But when he saw her, she was already on her way down the mountain. Sharpy followed her as fast as he could, leaving the others behind without hesitation. The next moment, he was side by side with her. She looked at him and he looked back. They nodded and pressed their wings close to the body and allowed the gravity to do its work.

When the ground was getting closer they spread their wings to slow down. They could see both Fluttershy and Spike being pushed back into a stone wall. They looked terrified, but when they noticed Sharpy and Rainbow, you could see a small glimpse of hope in their eyes. The attacking dragon noticed this and looked back. The dragon’s dark, red eyes pierced him and reached into his very soul. They were filled with such ruthless evil and a will to see everything burn. It seemed like this dragon, who had scales as dark as the darkest of nights, recognized him. He recognized him, and smiled.

With fear in his eyes, Sharpy realized who was standing before him. This dragon… was no other than Huffy. Huffy the Magical Dragon.

“Oh, no…” was all that slipped through Sharpy’s lips as Huffy opened his giant mouth and roared.

Next Chapter: Chapter 21: Fight Till The End Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 56 Minutes